Stealing, Cheating, Killing. Who said romance is dead?
Rating: 9/10
Running Time: 120 minutes
US Certificate: R UK Certificate: 18
On DVD
So, your boss has secretly given you a night with a prostitute (Arquette) for your birthday. She falls in love, moves in and gets marries you. You then kill her pimp (Oldman) and accidentally steal a suitcase of cocaine from him. This everyday scenario was just so happens to Clarence (Slater) and Alabama (Arquette) in True Romance from Ridley Scott’s little brother before these are fairly ordinary occurrences lead to drug deals with Hollywood Directors (Rubinek) and the attentions of psychotic gangsters (Walken and co) as they escape to LA.
Every actor with an ounce of cool working today although that wasn’t actually the case when the film came out in 1993 play their part down-to-a-tee in True Romance. A long list of Hollywood’s finest were not in egotistical competition with each other but rather they each fit together like a beautiful twenty-piece jigsaw of a boat. Kudos has to go to Gary Oldman who makes the biggest transformation, Brad Pitt and Dennis Hopper showing their own respective brands of effortless style, and Patricia Arquette creating a woman that you would kill, steal and drug deal for. The main plaudits must be reserved for Tony Scott for juggling them so perfectly and getting the best out of each one.
This stylish and impressive romantic-thriller is bursting with eye-catching scenes, razor-sharp dialogue and colourful characters. The influence of 1973’s classic movie Badlands especially in its iconic soundtrack is plain to see however True Romance has itself inspired a lot of movies since and stands out as one of the best films of the Nineties even though it lurks in the shadow of the other the better-known films penned by Tarantino, like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
It's Got: A whole array of non-ego stroking performances in perfect harmony, stylish direction, memorable scenes and dialogue
It Needs: To have stuck to Taratino's less wimpy ending, to be classed alongside Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs
DVD Extras Various commentaries, deleted and extended scenes, short behind-the-scenes featurette but nothing more in terms of documentaries, trailer - not bad but not great for a 2-disk special edition DVD Extras Rating: 6/10
Summary
This hugely entertaining thriller excels thanks to lashings of black humour, style and action and a supporting cast hardly rivalled in terms of acting (not star quality) in recent times. Definitely to be ranked up there with its movie cousins, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.